Scandalous is about the story of two gossip columnists in 1950s Hollywood, but it's not L.A. Confidential and it's not Fortune & Glory. Instead, it's an examination of the "Red Scare" caused by Senator Joe McCarthy and an exploration of the role that tabloids played in that travesty, something that has been mostly forgotten, as Ande Parks points out in his afterword. It is also a tale of frustration and the lengths to which that frustration can drive people, specifically the jealousy and pettiness that is so much a part of both the tabloid journalism and entertainment businesses. Torres and Chantler previously collaborated on another period piece, Days Like This, and Scandalous is similar in some ways and completely different in others. There is one thing that it shares in common with the earlier work, though, and that is that it is an excellent read.
It's not too much of a stretch, in these days of terrorism alerts being launched as counter-assaults on political attacks or media repeating talking points rather than doing any real investigation, to see modern counterpoints in Scandalous. Certainly the way that "un-American" (said with the same venom reserved for words like "child molestor" or "rapist") is bandied about in these times has echoes in the post-9-11 "don't question our government" atmosphere that so many have worked hard to create. Without getting overtly political, Torres and Chantler set up a story that is fascinating as a period piece but absolutely applicable to modern life as well.
While you could map elements of Scandalous onto the modern world, however, the story is very much a period piece that evokes the time and place of its setting. Chantler does a beautiful opening and closing sequence that immediately draws the reader into '50s era Hollywood, showing off a few notable landmarks and giving the sense of the place before zooming in on some of our players. In addition, while there are still scandals and paparazzi fueling (and sometimes gumming up) the Hollywood engine these days, the specific way that these columnists go about their job, and the stories they dig up, are very much of their time. There's a strong balance between keeping Scandalous approachable and relatable and yet also very evocative of its time.
Torres has crafted a multi-layered story here as well. On some level, this book is about the competition between gossip columnists, a war on paper that has real casualties in careers, reputations and even lives. However, for as much as the driving force of the book is the conflict between Harry and Paige, there's a lot going on related to their stories. A popular Hollywood figure is suspected of communism, and getting involved with the tabloid business is the only way for him to keep himself out of jail and in work. An actor has mob ties that make getting involved with him more dangerous than just never working in this town again. All of the stories come together and relate to the main plot, but Torres loosens his focus enough to explore a variety of related elements of the story. There are also a lot of fun little details in Scandalous that make it so entertaining, little things like Paige's assistant always being one step ahead of her boss, yet never getting recognition for it, or the parallel reactions of Harry and Paige when they both go to actual war with one another.
I love Chantler's art style, which is perfectly suited to the tone of Scandalous. His work is reminiscent of guys like Cameron Stewart and Darwyn Cooke, a combination of simple animation-style technique with heavy detail that you notice more subsconsciously than anything else. The result is a style that is sort of light, but which really brings across the detail of the setting and the gravity of the situations. There are several sequences in this book that are completely silent, and Chantler's work perfectly nails scenes like Harry dodging his pursuers or the aforementioned prescience of Paige's assistant.
